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Topic: Kenmore 106.54609300 not cooling (Read 5220 times)

Woke up Monday to a warm refrigerator. Needed to be at work so I called a local appliance repairman to have a look. Compressor was running as was condensor and evaporator fan.The compressor was very hot. Tech noticed that the freezer side was iced up and the coils underneath were dirty. He defrosted the freezer coils and checked the heater and cleaned the coils underneath. Said he felt it could be the ADC which on this model is supposedly part of the main board. Said he would like to let the unit run to see if it cooled down properly and if the coils started to ice up he would bring the board back with him. The unit ran overnight and this morning the refrigerator section had only dropped to 45 degrees from 65 the day before. The tech stopped by and said that the temp on the freezer side was struggling to maintain 30 degrees with the compressor running. He said he felt that the main board was to blame for the defrost problem but that he felt the compressor was on its way out and he siad to start looking for a replacement refrigerator. Does this sound like a reasonable assumption to the professionals on this board? Thanks once again, Jim

24 hours is standard for letting a fridge regulate itself sometimes more depending on the amount of food stored. If the defrost circuit has been checked and is working properly then you may have a thermistor issue http://www.appliancepartspros.com/Appliance-Parts/whirlpool-thermistor-item-number-ap3745265.aspx for your fridge. If the compressor is struggling I would want to see the evaporator coils. They should have a nice sheen of frost throughout the entire coil (not partial). With dirty condensor coils it would make sense that the compressor is hotter than should be that's what happens without proper air flow they get to hot and shut down. It's possible it's the board but I would be more inclined to look at the thermistor first if it does not get itself down to temp. Thermistor should be about 10K Ohm's at room temp.

Where is the thermistor located on this unit. I know that when he checked the coils the ice was built up in the lower section with the heaviest in the lower right corner. At the time he deiced the coil he checked several plugs with a fluke, I know one was the heater and something else. He stated that everything other than the defrost control checked out ok.

He was checking the heater and the defrost thermostat. I haven't had time to check exactly where the thermistor is located in this model but most likely it will be near the cold input in the fresh food side (you can follow the wires if need be). If you have heavy frost in one section of the evap. coils and the rest are just silver/metal you are most likely looking at a weak compressor or low refridgerant and unless you have a friend who's willing to repair/refill/replace the sealed system you will be better off replacing the unit.

Thermisters turn the compressor on or off and open and close damper doors depending upon temperature in the appropriate section. A iced over evaporator is caused by a bad defrost terminator,bad heater or bad defrost control(ADC). If the condenser fan motor at the compressor is good and the compressor start relay is good and the sealed system is charged correctly(no leaks). The unit will cool correctly. Check these components listed to eliminate the problem.

Ok, Well this is strange but we mentioned to the tech that the fridge sounded very quiet like it did when it was down to temperature, not like when it was trying to cool down. Both fans were running but about 9p.m. last night the fan speed increased dramatically like we are used to hearing when the unit is working to drop the temperature. The unit cooled down some but not much. I would assume that if the compressor is tryin to cool the fridge the fan speed should increase if everything is working as it should.

What is the temp of the top of the compressor now that the condenser has been cleaned and the ice box has been going for a day?

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JW, I really don't have a good way to measure that right now. I do know that the compressor is running and the temp in the fridge is going up again not down. It appears that the back of the freezer is starting to frost up pretty good again.

Well the saga continues.The control board was replaced, seems that the adc on this model is on that board. They also changed the thermister in the fridge section and verified damper operation. Saturday morning, full ice maker 0 degrees in freezer, 37 degrees in fridge all good. Saturday night go to bed at 10, ice maker down about 1/3 of the way. Sunday morning the ice maker is not quite full and the fridge is almost 50 degrees. I can see that the fridge is going through the defrost cycle as the bottom edge of the coil can be seen. This has really got me puzzled.